Eco's Heart

by ChaShiree M.

  “Nephew.” Hearing the voice of my Uncle Anton, I turn toward the door.

  “Tío.” I respond hugging him with one arm since I refuse to remove my other one from Eva.

  “How is she doing?” Uncle Amador asks.

  “No change. She hasn’t woken up, moved, nothing. The fucking doctors are morons. I ask questions, they say wait. I have had to clip my gun multiple times to keep from shooting the bastards.

  “What do we know, Eco?” My Uncles are not one for small talk.

  “What I know for sure is that this has something to do with Popov and Carlos is either their mole, or he is in on it. Doesn’t matter which. He is dead.”

  “We heard you yelling as we came down the hall. I take it Levi didn’t find anything you liked?”

  “No.” I say, my eyes still on Eva. I don’t like to not look at her for long periods of time, deploring the thought that she could awaken, or move and I am not here. I hear them leave the room and am thankful for the time. I try to send her words, signals, love. Something to brand my presence into her mind and heart. I have been begging her to wake up and look at me. To curse me. Anything as long as I get to look at those beautiful blue eyes. My soul has been pacing around inside of me, anxious and irritated to be not be able to move and wreck this city. If someone is not brought to me soon, I don’t know what I will do. My need for revenge is becoming a constant hum in my ear, taunting me, nagging me to do something. Anything. I turn toward them, noticing that they are both in their phones.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “I am talking to your mother.” Anton says. Makes sense. Anton was who my father assigned to my mother when he was courting her.

  Bzzzz.

  “WHAT?” I walk out of Eva’s room to answer my phone not wanting my anger to be the nightmare she has.

  “I got him. Meet us at 3268 S. Canteen. It’s an old bread factory. Been abandoned for years.” My uncle Ario hangs up the phone.

  “That was Ario. Apparently, he has Carlos. Why didn’t you tell me he was here? Is Artemio here as well?”

  “Sí. They wanted to follow-up on some leads. We decided to come and watch out for you. What do you want to do?”

  “I want to go and hang this fuck and cut off his fingers one by one while letting leeches eat his dick. But I don't want to leave her here alone.” I would never forgive myself is she woke up and I wasn’t here.

  “Right on time.” I hear Anton say. I turn and in walks my mom. I almost sag with relief at the knowledge that she is here so I can go and avenge my love.

  “Gracías por venir Mami.” I hug her thanking her for coming.

  “How’s the baby Hijo?”

  “They say fine. They can't run test right now. I just want her to wake up Mama. I need to know she is ok?” I lean down to kiss Eva’s cheek. Running my finger across it, I turn back to my Uncles.

  “It’s time to go.” We walk outside of the hospital and the first thing I do is find out who we know.

  “Anton, is that guy that you knew years ago still here?”

  “The one who sold black market weapons. Yes. What did you have in mind?”

  “Leeches.” I say matter of factly.

  “Leeches?” Amador looks at me in question. I don’t bother answering him. My mind has gone into a completely different headspace right now to get ready for what I have to do. The song that keeps playing over and over is Heathens by Twenty One Pilots. There is nothing in my eyesight, but the color red, with visions of the faces of my enemies. Sudden movements when I am in this space is dangerous for anyone within my peripheral. After making a few stops, to pick up some...tools I need for this expedition we finally get to the warehouse. Walking upon it, I can hear the screams of Carlos inside and immediately my adrenaline begins to spike. No one will ever be able to understand how being raised in this life shapes the way you view the world. Knowing I am going to kill someone is tantamount to winning the lottery. Savage, I know. But it is who I have been raised to be.

  “Ahhh!!!” Is what I hear when I walk in. Carlos is hanging from the ceiling, bloody and badly beaten, but he is conscious. That is the one requirement I had when I called my uncles as we were headed here.

  “Nephew. So good to see you.” They both say to me as we exchange hugs.

  “You as well Uncs. I see you started without me.” I say as I walk around him, admiring their handy work.

  “Eh. We just had a bit of entertainment. But we left the real fun to you. I understand you went and saw Eddie?” Ario asks me as I remove my jacket and roll up my sleeves.

  “I did. He had quite a few...interesting options to choose from. But I went there with something special in mind. Cut his pants off. Underwear too. If you will.” If it was any other situation, I would laugh at the shade of green Anton face turns since he knows why I want his pants down. “Please take him down from the ceiling and tie him to the chair. I need him low for this.” As they tie him to the chair, I walk around him, taking a second to gather myself. I want to savor this. But with the speed pumping through me, he would be dead this side of two minutes.

  “Carlos, my friend, we have a problem.” I say removing his mouth gag.

  “I’m sorry. I-I..” he begins to stutter.

  “Let me tell you how this is going to go. I am going to ask you some questions. You are going to answer them honestly. Say you understand.” I demand grabbing his head by his hair.

  “I understand.” He chokes out, spitting blood out of his mouth.

  “Who do you work for?” I walk over to the tool table as I ask the question. My mind already in torture mode.

  “I work for you. I didn’t...I don’t...no... please.” he begins jumping around when he sees what is in my hand.

  “Wrong answer. If you worked for me, you would have been behind her, where you should have been. If you worked for me, my fiancée wouldn't be in the hospital, unconscious. So, you see, you don’t work for me.”

  SNIP.

  “AHHHHHH!!!!” Music to my ears, his screaming. The storm cloud hanging over my head begins to brew, drums beating in my ears, as my body begins to sing to the tune of his pain.

  “So again, I ask you, who you work for?”

  “I-I swear, n-no one. I just didn’t sleep the night before and fell asleep...please don’t… don’t...”

  SNIP.

  “Noooooooo...” He screams again, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as the pain begins to take its toll.

  Smack.

  “Wake up. You don’t get off that easy. See, Carlos, I am cutting your fingers off since you apparently don’t need them anyway. Now, I am going to ask you again, who you work for. This time, you don’t tell me the truth, I am going to cut off three.” I make to grab his hand and he chokes out a wait.

  “Please Mr. Valladares, I didn’t have a choice. They said if I didn’t ‘oversleep’ and leave her car without my presence, they would hurt my family. I’m so sorry. I didn’t have a choice.

  “Now we are getting somewhere. Who is they? Give me a name.”

  “They both had Eastern European accents. Like Russian or something. One of the guys called the other Igor, I think. Yeah. Igor.” I fucking knew it. How the hell did he know I was here?

  “Thank you, for being honest, Carlos. I know it wasn’t easy. Unfortunately, I hate cowards. Men who cave to threats and torture are not men to me. Which is why I got these.” I open the jar with the leeches in it and show them to him. He begins jerking and rocking in the chair, begging for his life. All music to my ears but lost to the tune on repeat in my head. Using tweezers, I take one at a time out of the jar and lay them on his limp dick. I glance up at my uncles and note that Anton and Ario, are both holding their stomachs.

  “Estas loco pa’ la pinga.” Calling me fucking crazy, Ario runs out of the building not able to handle what he is seeing. The screams alone would send most people running. Turning back to Carlos, lean into his ear.

  “Do you know why I took your fingers?” Of cours
e, he doesn’t answer. He is too busy yelling and screaming as the leeches continue to quench their thirst on his dick and nutsack. “I took your fingers because you didn’t use them anyway to let me know my woman's life was in danger. To show some loyalty, some backbone some pride. I am going to take the life of your family to quench my own leechy thirst.” I am just about to snip another finger when my phone rings. It’s my mom.

  “Mamí. What’s wrong? Is it Eva?”

  “Yes Hijo. Her heart stopped for a few seconds. They have her on a ventilator. I think you need to come back.” Fuck. This is what I was afraid of. She is EVERYTHING to me. If I lose her, I have nothing. I will die.

  “I am on my way.” Turning to face Carlos, my disgust level for him is 10x what it was. Not caring about him suffering I pull my gun and tap one right through is forehead. “There is a pigpen ten miles up. They look hungry. His brothers, I want them out. Tell my dad Lazaro needs to go as well. I have to go. Eva’s heart stopped she is on a breathing machine. I need to be with her. Thank you all for coming.”

  I don't wait around for their words of love and encouragement. I have to go to my woman. My air. My life.

  It has been a week since Eva has been in a coma. My mom left yesterday, needing to go home and see about my dad. There was really nothing for her to do here anyway. They listen to the baby’s heartbeat every day, and so far, it's strong and still there. They were able to get a specialized CT scan machine in that only covered her head and wouldn’t affect the baby. They say the swelling has gone down. Now it is just a matter of if she is going to wake up. The word ‘if’ pisses me off. Of course, she is going to wake up. I talk to her every day. I wash her up, brush her hair, make sure her lips aren’t chapped and discuss our future. She is going to wake up.

  We still haven’t found Igor. We are closing in on him and when we find him, I am going to enjoy cutting his fucking head off and mailing it to his wife. “Good morning Escobar. How is our lady love this morning?” I had the hospital assign her own three nurses, each one on a different shift. I am on a first name basis with all of them.

  “She is fine. We had a bath last night. How is my baby?” She looks at the fetal heart machine.

  “Baby is still strong. Can I get anything for you? Coffee, soda, bagel?”

  “No thank you Nadine. Can you make her wake up and smile at me?” I ask her as I move Eva’s hair from her face. My beautiful Goddess.

  “Just keep doing what you’re doing. She will wake up eventually.” She walks out the room and I lay my head down on the edge of the bed. I barely sleep, but a few minutes here and there. I just need her to wake up.

  Beep beep beep.

  Jumping up, I look to the machine that is currently blaring in my ear, aware that her heartbeat going crazy. I push the button on her bed before looking down at her and being struck with the most beautiful set of blue eyes.

  “Baby, hi.” I say kissing her all over her face. “How do you feel? Does anything hurt? Do you need anything?” I know I am rambling, but I can't stop the words spilling out of my mouth like a volcano.

  “I..” she stops and tries to clear her throat. “I feel a little weak. How long have I been here?” her voice scratchy and her speech a bit slurred.

  “A week baby. Do you remember anything?” Before she can answer the doctor comes in and check her out. They ask her name, age, if she knows where she is, who I am. When she answers all of those, they say she is going to be fine. She looks at me shortly after the doctor leaves and I see panic cross her face. She begins feeling around her stomach and that is when I get it.

  “Shh. Calm down. The baby is fine. They have been monitoring the peanut the whole time. We were more worried about you. I am so sorry, baby. I should have been with you. I love you so much Eva. So fucking much.” I can’t stop myself from kissing her face, head, eyes and mouth. When her hand comes up and touches my face as she kisses me back, I feel like I have been liberated.

  “Thank you for staying with me, I know it is not your fault. I should have done as you said and been more aware of everything going on. I almost put our baby’s life in danger Eco. I love you so much.” She begins to cry, holding me like she thinks I am going to disappear. We spend most of that day, holding each other. Whispering things to one another that we want for our future. Like I told her, I don’t care. As long as she and our baby are with me, my life is complete.

  Holding my whole life in my arms, nothing else matters.

  Epilogue

  Eva

  Six months later

  “I don’t really feel right with you doing this pregnant Diosa.” Eco says to me for the hundredth time. I roll my eyes at him and kiss him swiftly before finishing what I am doing. When I got out of the hospital five months ago, I spent a lot of time at home with Eco, trying to figure out my life. A brush with death like that changes a few things.

  First, I no longer had doubts about my relationship. Seeing him at the hospital when I woke, so distraught and obviously not rested, showed me just how much I meant to him. I knew better than to ask him anything about what happened while we were still in the hospital and the detectives were coming in and out of my room. As soon as we made it home and took a shower together, because he said he needed to be naked and cleansed with me for our fresh start, we laid in the bed and he told me everything. He told me how he first saw me, then my father and the other fathers made deals with his to merge the families ahead of the conflict with the Russians. I asked him about the information my mom had told me about Anatoly Popov and the others I had dated turning up dead. He had the sense of mind to look sheepish for a moment. Then he told me, “They had all touched you in some way. They all had to go.” Now, I know I should have found this disturbing. I mean, he is talking about this like a handshake or a kiss on the cheek. But, in truth, it is so fucking hot. My crazy ass man.

  He told me about Carlos betraying us and what he did for vengeance. Instead of being scared or turned off by the brutality of his retribution, I was horny as hell, listening to him recount the fingers he snipped off and the leeches he put on him. Holy shit is that hot. I didn’t even recognize myself. The old me would have been afraid and walked away. But this me, recognizes a man who loves his woman and would do anything to protect her and would kill anyone who tried to hurt me.

  When I asked about Igor, he informed me that he was in the wind. I didn’t like hearing that, but what could we do. We decided to move on with our lives and plans and wait for the day to come when we can make him pay. We planned our wedding, deciding to do it a few months later, but then when he thought I was getting too stressed, he worried about the baby. So, one day, he put me on a jet, took me to Vegas and married me. I know some women would be pissed at having their wedding day taken from them. But the truth is, I just want him. To be his wife. So, in front of my friend Lorna, and her boyfriend Ken, who Eco has become at least friendly with, I became Mrs. Eva Valladares.

  With the baby coming we opted not to do a honeymoon, but instead move into our new house and got the nursery ready for the baby. That has been our sole focus for the last few months. Until a few days ago, when Anton called and said they found Igor. Eco immediately went into fight mode. I recognize the battle lines on his face. Hell, my pussy gets wet just thinking about it. But this one, I wanted a part in. I have never wanted to be involved in the life and for the most part I am not. But this is personal. Which brings us to right now.

  “Babe, I told you it is fine as long as I am not ingesting it. Just make sure the waiter gives it to the right table.” I tell him. See, part of what I was going to school for was cancer research sure but, along with that, is learning things that are poisonous and cancerous to humans. I learned a lot. Let’s just say, I perfected the poison part. You never can be too careful. I had to be ready for anything with the family I was born into and I might not be a gun-toting badass, but I can destroy just the same and you would never know I was there.

  We found out that Igor and two of his associates have
a regular standing boys night, if you will, at a club in New York. A strip club of course. It took some convincing for me to get Eco to let me fly, even on our private jet from LA to NY, but when I told him I needed to be able to do this, he kissed me, and told me ok. So here I am, in the kitchen of the club adding Aconite poison to his vodka tonic. A small dose of this stuff causes a slow painful death in 2-6 hours. It causes rapid heart arrhythmia, asphyxiation and suffocation. I added it to the drinks of his whole party making sure to wear gloves because it can be absorbed through the skin.

  “Come here, Diosa.” Eco calls to me once I have removed the gloves and washed my hands. I go to him, my body alive on endorphins from what I have just done. My nipples are sensitive, because let’s face it, being pregnant, my body is not my own. But it’s my pussy that has the most to gain from his attention. It's always this way. “How’s my son?” he asks rubbing my stomach as his mouth meets my neck.

  “Mmm. He’s fine. It’s me who needs you.”

  “I know baby. I can see it in your dilating pupils. Hop up.” he puts me on top of the counter, legs spread. I know I should feel wrong about this, in the kitchen of this club, laid across their counter, with my husband on his knees before me, but all I feel is empowered and cherished. And so fucking beautiful. “Fuck, Diosa. Your pussy is so wet, your thighs are glistening. Look at all this honey coating your thighs.” He wipes some of it off, putting it in my face to see.

  “Eco, please.” I beg him, feeling a bit out of control.

  “Nuh uh. You know what to say, Diosa.”

  “Daddy, please.” I whine, rocking back and forth in his face. I know I have leaked more because calling him Daddy does indescribable things to me.

  “Good girl.” He says, right before his tongue licks me like its own personal flavor of ice cream. Oh God. Up and down he licks, making sure he hits my asshole. No hole left behind he says. He thinks he’s a jokester.